Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. –William Pitt

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Michael Scott Wilson’s Perry Hall Home Searched

POSTED: 7:16 am EDT October 11, 2011

BALTIMORE — A Transportation Security Administration security officer is out on bail after he was arrested and charged with child pornography.Michael Scott Wilson, 41, has been suspended from his job following the arrest.Wilson was charged Monday with possession and distribution of child pornography after agents searched his Perry Hall home.

Neighbors said he’s married with no children. They said they’re stunned and disturbed by the charges, especially since most of them described Wilson as a straight-laced federal worker who took pride in his position and the trust that comes with it.

“As a parent, it’s disturbing to find out that someone is living so close, especially employed in his capacity,” said neighbor Malik Kelly.

“I travel sometimes twice a week, so to think that one of those screeners could live in your neighborhood and face charges like this is alarming. Definitely alarming,” said neighbor Brian Ryerson.

The TSA released a statement regarding Wilson’s arrest, saying, “The TSA holds its security officers to the highest professional and ethical standards and aggressively investigates allegations of misconduct. The allegations against this individual in no way reflect on the outstanding job our more than 50,000 security officers do every day to ensure the security of the traveling public.”

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Lori Dorn, the wife of Laughing Squid’s Scott Beale, recently submitted to a backscatter scan at JFK airport. The TSA pulled her aside for a breast patdown, even though she stated she had breast implants in place after her bilateral mastectomy. Of course, that didn’t stop them.

They didn’t even let her take out the Device Identification Card that would could have explained where the implants came from and their medical purpose. No. Instead they humiliated her in public:

Instead, she called over a female supervisor who told me the exam had to take place. I was again told that I could not retrieve the card and needed to submit to a physical exam in order to be cleared. She then said, “And if we don’t clear you, you don’t fly” loud enough for other passengers to hear. And they did. And they stared at the bald woman being yelled at by a TSA Supervisor.

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Feds Arrest TSA Agent For Her Role In Alleged Phony Marriage Scheme

A Transportation Security Administration agent was arrested this week on federal charges for her role in an alleged phony marriage scheme that sought to secure U.S. citizenship for her purported spouse, a Lebanon native.

The case against Krista Taha, 34, is, in part, based on information provided by two male TSA agents who told investigators that they dated her while she was reportedly married to Ali Taha, who was also named as a defendant in a felony criminal complaint unsealed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Taha, pictured above, and one of the male TSA agents are the parents of a four year-old boy.

The federal criminal complaint does not detail Taha’s alleged motive for taking part in the sham February 2002 marriage (or whether she was paid in return for the marriage vows). Taha, charged with conspiracy and making false statements, has worked as a TSA agent at the Detroit airport since late-2002.

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Clifton Lyles, who worked at the Nashville International Airport, was arrested earlier this week in Rutherford County, Tennessee, and charged with statutory rape. His bond was set at $10,000, according to NewsChannel 5 WTVF-TV in Nashville.

Earlier this month, a TSA employee was arrested in Nevada and charged with six counts of lewdness with a child.

In March of 2010, a TSA worker was arrested in Massachusetts and charged with statutory rape, enticement of a child and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older, a Boston news station reported.

The agency has weathered a number of criminal accusations since its inception in late 2001 following the September 11 attacks.

In February, the TSA admitted in federal court that a supervisor and two TSA agents were arrested and charged with stealing thousands of dollars in cash from the luggage of travelers. Another employee was arrested and fired for assaulting a co-worker in a dispute over a parking space.

Several days before the TSA admission of guilt, a TSA security officer at Newark Liberty International Airport pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and kickbacks from a colleague who regularly stole money from passengers during security screenings, Reuters reported.

Passenger theft by TSA employees is a nationwide problem, writes Howard Portnoy. According to TSA records, press reports, and court documents, around 500 TSA officers have been fired or suspended for stealing from passenger luggage.

Airports in New York City harbor the most flagrant offenders, according to Portnoy, “but virtually no city in the nation is safe from the TSA’s sticky fingers.”

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Last Updated: 10:35 AM, September 13, 2011

Posted: 10:34 AM, September 13, 2011

STAMFORD, Conn. — Federal prosecutors in Connecticut say a state trooper, a police officer and three Transportation Security Administration officers based at airports have been arrested on charges of participating in a conspiracy to distribute tens of thousands of highly addictive painkiller pills.

Authorities say the TSA officers, based at airports in Florida and New York, a Westchester County, N.Y., police officer and a Florida state trooper received cash payments to help transport oxycodone pills from Florida to New York and Connecticut and/or transport cash proceeds from the sale of the drugs back to Florida.

Authorities plan to announce details of the arrests at a news conference in Stamford on Tuesday afternoon.

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Southwest Flight Diverted Over Suspicious Passenger

Published September 10, 2011

| NewsCore

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A Southwest Airlines flight bound for Baltimore was diverted to Nashville on Saturday after a passenger displayed “suspicious behavior” and a suspicious item was found, The Tennessean reported.

Southwest Airlines spokesman Chris Mainz said Flight 1307, which was scheduled to land in Baltimore at 2:40 p.m. E.T., was diverted because the crew “witnessed suspicious behavior specifically with regard to one passenger on board.”

Assistant FBI Special Agent Keith Moses said the passenger “had used the restroom on two occasions, once at pre-takeoff as the flight was delayed on the ground and a second time in flight.” (I won’t be crude enough to say what it probably was. This is unbelievable, using the bathroom is suspicious behavior?)

His behavior prompted a search of the restroom and a “suspicious item” was found, Moses said. He would not comment on the item except to say it was “non-explosive related.”

The flight, which had 115 people on board, was diverted to Nashville International Airport at 1:10 p.m. E.T.

Airport police and agents from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force met the plane at the gate in Nashville. Passengers were ordered to exit the plane and go through security screening while police investigated the plane, Nashville International Airport spokeswoman Emily Richard said.

The suspicious passenger was detained, interviewed by authorities, and cleared for flight. He was not charged with any wrongdoing and his identity was not released.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. – A former federal security officer has admitted helping a man accused of running a drug ring evade security and smuggle money through the Buffalo Niagara Airport.

Minnetta Walker was arrested in March. She admitted Friday in federal court helping the man get around airport security scanners, The Buffalo News reported (http://bit.ly/qb8tIm).

Walker, 43, had been suspended from her job as a behavioral detection officer for the Transportation Safety Administration.

Also charged was the man accused of running the drug operation, Derek Frank. According to police, the 30-year-old Frank regularly flew from Buffalo to Arizona to buy marijuana, which was mailed back to Buffalo and sold.

He has pleaded not guilty in federal court.

Walker also admitted Friday to warning two of Frank’s associates that agents were tailing them.

As a behavioral detection officer, Walker was trained to observe and analyze human behavior and had unrestricted access to the airport and its security stations. Sometimes, she’d direct travelers she appeared to know, including Frank, away from security lines where body image scanners or pat-downs might detect large sums of cash, and escort them to their gates so they wouldn’t be pulled aside for random inspections, authorities said. She’d also alert travelers to the presence of undercover law enforcement officers, authorities said.

Investigators stumbled upon her behavior while monitoring the movements and cellphone calls of suspected drug dealers beginning about a year ago, according to court documents.

Chief George Gast of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority police confirmed his agency assisted federal investigators in a long-term investigation.

Walker was charged with conspiring to defraud the United States and evading security requirements. She faces up to five years in prison.

The charge against Frank carries a possible prison term of 20 years to life.

In a related case Thursday, a former employee of the Buffalo city clerk’s office pleaded guilty to a felony, admitting that she made up a false birth certificate for Frank.

SPRING CREEK — A city officer arrested a Spring Creek man Wednesday morning at the Elko Area Regional Airport, where he works for the Transportation Security Administration, on a warrant charging six counts of lewdness with a child.

The Elko County Sheriff’s Office was notified in July of possible sexual contact between David Ralph Anderson, 61, and a girl younger than 14.

According to Elko Justice Court records, the victim told investigators that on seven to 10 occasions between 2010 and this year, Anderson allegedly taught the victim about various sexual acts and had sexual contact in the form of touching each other’s genitals.

Investigators reported Anderson also told the girl to sleep in his bed and taught her to say various vulgar words associated with body parts and sexual activities.

In addition, the girl stated he would rub lotion all over her body, placed his hand up her shirt to touch her breasts, had her watch pornographic films with him, encouraged her to consume alcohol and would French kiss her.

Deputy District Attorney Tyler Ingram submitted a warrant request to Elko Justice of the Peace Al Kacin on Aug. 23, which was granted along with an objection to any reduction of bail.

Anderson, who is a TSA employee according to Elko County Jail records, is being held on $250,000 bail.

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A pregnant woman says Transportation Security Administration agents refused to allow her past a security checkpoint because she was carrying insulin for her diabetes and ice packs while boarding a plane.

“He’s like, ‘Well, you’re a risk.’ I’m like, ‘Excuse me?’ And he’s like, ‘This is a risk … I can’t tell you why again. But this is at risk for explosives,’” the woman told the channel. (She eventually managed to sneak a small amount of insulin past security, she said.)

She told the channel that when she started to ask for TSA agents’ names, they “scattered” and “left me crying at the TSA checkpoint.”

TSA agents have been widely criticized for what many in the public perceive as an abuse of power. And TSA appeared to have made some efforts to assuage concerned passengers.

The alleged incident occurred just days before the Denver airport introduced a new scanner that will obscure details of a passenger’s body. In the old system, a TSA worker would sit alone in a room and observe the nude image with blurred face, The Denver Post reported.

The TSA apologized to the woman for the episode, but questioned the woman’s memory of the events, TheDenverChannel.com reported. The spokesman said the agent’s “didn’t touch the insulin” and the reason that her icepack was confiscated was because it was not completely frozen.

“I talked to the supervisor, who said she was upset. She calmed down and (said) she needed ice and (the TSA agent) told her how to get ice from the concourse and went on,” Pat Ahlstrom told the channel.

The woman finally boarded a flight to Arizona and managed to have additional insulin delivered to her.

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July 28, 2011

The federal government is planning to introduce new behavior detection techniques at airport checkpoints as soon as next month, Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole said Thursday.

TSA already has “behavior detection officers” at 161 airports nationwide looking for travelers exhibiting physiological or psychological signs that a traveler might be a terrorist. However, Pistole said TSA is preparing to move to an approach that employs more conversation with travelers—a method that has been employed with great success in Israel.

“I’m very much interested in expanding the behavior detection program, upgrading it if you will, in a way that allows us to….have more interaction with a passsenger just from a discussion which may be able to expedite the physical screening aspects,” Pistole said during an appearance at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. “So, we’ve looked at what works around the world, some outstanding examples and we are planning to do some new things in the near future here.”

Pistole declined to elaborate on the enhanced behavior detection program but said it would “probably” be announced in August. During an on-stage interview with CNN’s Jeanne Meserve, Pistole acknowledged that the Israeli techniques have been carefully examined.

“There’s a lot—under that Israeli model—a lot that is done that is obviously very effective,” he said. However, critics have said the Israeli program is too time consuming to use consistently at U.S. airports and may involve a degree of religious and racial profiling that would draw controversy in the U.S.

Pistole also said TSA is planning to test out some new methods for screening children in the wake of highly-publicized videos of children screaming as they were patted down at airport checkpoints. The TSA chief said adults have used children as suicide bombers before in other contexts and could do so through an airport, but there may still be better ways to screen kids.

“I think we can do a different way of screening children that recognizes that the very high likelihood they do not have a bomb on them,” Pistole said. “I think under our new protocols we would see very few patdowns of children.” Instead, parents would be more involved in the process of helping TSA personnel figure out why a child is setting off alarms.

Pistole said adjusting screening for the elderly is more complicated because a large number of people on terrorist watch and enhanced screening lists are older. However, another pilot program is underway underway to identify people who have traveled very frequently for years and who could get an expedited screening.